Comments on: Asus to Transformer Prime Owners: “Teach Me How to Dongle”

By: Erik G. Nyquist

Erik G. Nyquist — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:56:00 +0000

You do not share my opinion therefore you are an idiot. Is this what they call Troll Science?

By: Don.o

Don.o — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Additional note, I do have hopes the dongle will attach to the port on the keyboard dock. I might then keep it attached until I need to charge them.

By: Don.o

Don.o — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:01:00 +0000

I do a great deal of business travel, to locations around the U.S. I’ve never been to. I often use the GPS features of my Prime to locate places near me when it is time to get something to eat, or for sightseeing when I have the time. Unfortunately, I have to take the Prime outside for it to properly lock on to my position. Yes, I am annoyed by this but it really isn’t that big a deal for me. I have had dedicated navigational GPS units (TomTom/Garmin) for many years and most of them all require a clear view of the sky for them to properly lock on to the satellite positions. Even those units can lose my position when I’m driving in a downtown area with lots of tall buildings. I was in downtown Dallas very recently and the Garmin decided I was going backwards. The GPS signals are very weak and they don’t penetrate buildings made of concrete and steel. I’ve seen both the Garmin and TomTom 3D navigation display slowly spinning when it loses the GPS signals. I need to remember my next turn is just two blocks up or I’d be lost until the unit was able to regain the signal.
Comparing the Prime to my Evo 4G phone, I can see a significant difference in each units ability to lock on to the GPS. There is enough of a difference that the dongle will be required to make up for it (though I don’t have it yet, so I can’t say for sure it will fix the issue). Very often I can be in a hotel and my phone can lock on to my position whereas the Prime has no clue. I have been on the 2nd floor of a 10 story hotel and my phone had no issue locking on but the Prime could not. I live in the top floor of an apartment complex and the Prime still can’t pick up the signals through the ceiling and roof. My phone, it locks on almost instantly, usually 5 seconds or less and is precise to within 20ft or so (often dead on).
I have a GPS Travel Recorder (made by Qstarz) and this thing can lock on to my GPS position almost anywhere. I use it to geo-tag all the photos I take with my DSLR. Years ago, I had handheld GPS units that couldn’t even maintain my positon when I was outside in a grove of trees. While the technology has improved GPS signal reception, I am used to knowing that I may or may not be able to lock onto my position when I am indoors.

Did I expect the Prime GPS to always work indoors? No. Do I use the Prime for in-car navigation? No. Should I expect the Prime’s GPS to be at least as good as the GPS on my phone? Yes. Does this issue give Asus a black-eye? Yes. Will I use the dongle when I receive it? Yes, i will probably test it but doubt I will carry it with me everywhere. I doubt I will be able to use the dock with the dongle attached and I leave the keyboard dock on all the time. I see no reason to detach it just to attach the dongle and obtain my GPS position. I can still use my phone to locate my position and any places I want to visit/see/eat at or photograph while I am traveling.

By: GotSka81

GotSka81 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:20:00 +0000

The problem in this situation isn’t the Wifi (which I have heard doesn’t work very well either), it’s the GPS functionality. From my understanding, poor physical placement of the chip inside the unit causes the GPS signal to be extremely slow to get a lock, if at all. This is a design flaw, and I personally find it unacceptable (as I do with any manufacturer) that something so flagrant would go unnoticed. To be fair, yes, they are fixing it (HUGE credit there), and yes they did withdraw any mention of GPS functionality from advertising…but the fact remains that this massive issue slipped through because of poor management of the project and/or QA.

By: Timmy

Timmy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:55:00 +0000

I loled.

By: Timmy

Timmy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:54:00 +0000

I wont disagree with you that is was rushed, but I have had it since Dec and I have had no WiFi issues. It can’t be all the Primes is some worked and some didn’t. The majority of the bad batch did though out way the good, but at least ASUS is fixing it.

By: GotSka81

GotSka81 — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:39:00 +0000

Lol…that’s my point entirely. I will agree that bugs and small issues will slip through, but for a function of the tablet to not function at all is a pretty big problem. Its also not one that appears over time…from what I understand it has never worked for the bulk of the Primes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Prime is a piece of crap (it’s one of my favorite tablets out right now), but I am saying that it appears Asus rushed the product to production before it was ready.

By: Hyper67584

Hyper67584 — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:17:00 +0000

Ok unlike some companies they are trying to address the hardware issues of their equipment and not just tuck tail and run or blame the consumer but I would rather have my tab working right from the go without having add dongles and whatnot. Will they halt further construction to add the correction to the hardware to eliminate the need of a dongle completely?

I own a Toshiba thrive and I did look at the TP with a bit of “got to have it” but I am glad I held off.

So yes it is good to see this issue being addressed but what is next or is that it?

By: yangyang266

yangyang266 — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:23:00 +0000

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By: William

William — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:06:00 +0000

How much of a idiot are you, it’s been proven that the iPad 3 is even less warm then most Android tablets.

Love the virtual spin you put up, you fantasy land is going to really upset you when reality sets in chief.

By: K.C

K.C — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0000

What a bunch of biased bull Sh**, there are no problems with the wi-fi ion the iPad, only a few being reported with the new ver 3.

Idiots

By: andrew z

andrew z — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:37:00 +0000

So because Android doesn’t have good Tablet Apps, the high prices that you pay for Tablet Apps with the iPad are justified…?

Just like how our education system is so great in America; spending more money per child than any other country justifies our incredibly mediocre ranking alongside some 2nd-world nations.

Your reasoning makes sense. Totally.

By: DanKemple

DanKemple — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Thing is design and components wise ASUS is better than Motorola.

By: gilmourd

gilmourd — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:45:00 +0000

OK, so I looked at the Engadget link… It says “GPS Extension Kit Apply & Inquire”… I can’t seem to find said page myself. Anybody else see that?

By: CoryDobak

CoryDobak — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 09:05:00 +0000

Please, get your unbiased, fact toting ass out of here.

We don’t do well with facts’n'stuff.